NEWS
TxDOT prepares roads for winter storm
WICHITA FALLS DISTRICT – All nine counties (Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Montague, Throckmorton Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young) in the Wichita Falls District spent today preparing for the winter storm predicted to hit Wednesday. The Wichita District takes care of 6,500 lane miles of state and federal highways.TxDOT crews pretreated bridges and overpasses with brine today and Monday. Two large tanker trucks are in service to spread brine quickly on US 287, I-44, and I-35. These tankers also delivered extra brine to maintenance yards. Snowplows and V-Box with spreaders were hooked up and tested on our fleet of 83 snowplows for the district. In and around Wichita Falls the main lanes of I-44 were pretreated with brine. All bridges and overpasses were sprayed on our major highways as well as lesser volume roads. In the Gainesville area the main lanes of I-35 were pretreated with brine. The bridges and overpasses were included as usual. Other lesser volume highways had bridges and overpasses treated. Pretreating the main lanes of our highest volume freeways is done when a storm system is expected to dump large amounts of snow in a relatively short amount of time. TxDOT employs this strategy only on Tier one roadways. Tomorrow , crews will finish up pretreatment. More brine will be made to keep storage units full as we put down more.We will also start our 24-hour snow fighting strategy. 12-hour around the clock shifts at all of our offices will begin Wednesday early evening.If you haven’t done so already, Motorists are urged to make sure their vehicles are in good shape for travel.1. Check your oil, antifreeze, and windshield wiper blades. Top off items if needed.2. Double-check your tire pressure and your spare tire.3. Fill up your gas tank hours before the storm hits.4. Pack your snow brush, ice melt, snow shovel, tool kit.5. Don’t forget warm boots, socks, gloves and coat.6. Is your phone charged? Pack your cables. Motorists can obtain travel information by visiting DriveTexas.Org or calling (800) 452-9292The Wichita Falls Facebook page is @ TxDOTWichitaFalls and our Twitter feed is @TxDOTWF.The Wichita Falls District has 16 traffic cameras that you can watch online or on your phone at TxDOT.Gov. Click on the Traffic Cameras Link.
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Trustees of the Bowie Independent School District welcomed one new member this week following the Nov. 5 election and accepted the 2023-24 outside audit with no exceptions.
Incumbent Trustee Jacky Betts returned to place one and Angie Christmas took the place two seat. After the board officers were dissolved with the new ones taking the oath, officers were elected. Betts will continue as president, Guy Green as vice president and Kent Dosch as secretary.
Paul Fleming of Edgin, Parkman, Fleming & Fleming, PC, presented the audit telling there were no issues and the process went smoothly. He noted the biggest change was the Legislature compressing the district tax rate and additional changes in the tax law. State aid formula grants increased due to the state’s funding formula compensating for lost property tax revenue due to the law change previously mentioned.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Information was the watchword for the second hospital/emergency room community meeting Tuesday night, as the steering committee was announced along with additional financial considerations.
About 50 people attended the meeting. Melody Gillespie, who was named chairperson for the committee, said the goal is to gather information to get it out into the community. This group was formed after the Bowie emergency room was closed by Faith Rural Health System in early October just shy of one year of operating in Bowie.
Kylie Ward, one of the public relations volunteers, said, “This committee is not here to force things on you and there are assumptions already we are proposing a tax. We are not, we don’t have that ability, we are just a research team here to explore all the options.”
Other members of the committee include Tiffany Chandler and Damon Benton handling finance and grant research; Jennifer Tellef, secretary; Valerie Tomerson, grant research; Ann Smith, PR and Margin Latham and Gillespie, legislative research. It was pointed out there are other members of the sub-committees who are helping with research, but they also invite anyone interested to help with the process.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Top photo – Jack County Judge Keith Umphress spoke at this week’s steering committee meeting. (Photo by Barbara Green)
The following indictments were filed with the 97th District Clerk following the November session of the Montague County Grand Jury.
There were a total of 13 indictments with one sealed awaiting the arrest of a suspect.
A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Read the full list of indictments in your mid-week Bowie News.
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